With Anthony Claggett Claim, Pirates Continue Quest to Become a Yankee Farm Team

Maybe the headline is a bit of hyperbole, but the Pittsburgh Pirates added their sixth Yankee pitcher over the past two years when they claimed right-handed pitcher Anthony Claggett off waivers today.

Claggett was designated for assignment by the Yankees 10 days ago to make room on the 40-man roster for outfielder Freddy Guzman.

Claggett was 7-7 with a 3.07 ERA in 39 appearances and 82 innings for the Yankees' Triple-A affiliate this season. He had a brief and disappointing stint in the Bronx this season where he gave up 10 earned runs in 2.2 innings in two appearances.

The Yankees must have been pretty disappointed with Claggett to DFA him instead of Edwar Ramirez, who has been one of their most pathetic pitchers this season after having a decent run in 2008. It could be that Claggett stopped striking out batters like he used to. He averaged 4.7 K/9 this season after 8.4 K/9 in Double-A last season.

Claggett was initially acquired by the Yankees in the Gary Sheffield trade, which makes that deal look even worse after the main piece of that deal, Humberto Sanchez, has struggled just to stay in the organization after multiple injuries.

Claggett joins former Yankee minor leaguers Eric Hacker, Steven Jackson, Jeff Karstens, Daniel McCutchen, and Ross Ohlendorf as pitchers on the Pirates roster. Another former Yankee, T.J. Beam, makes it seven pitchers, along with Jose Tabata, who have played for the Pirates over the past two years. That’s a pretty impressive list.

I wonder who they are eyeing next.